A Choice Between Satan and Beelzebub

From RenewAmerica

By Alan Keyes

Recently, I heard a friend of mine echo the sentiment former Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker expressed in an interview with WND: "I would vote for the devil himself over Barack Obama." People say this to make clear how deeply they abhor Obama and all his works. Sadly, for them and for America, their passionate hatred of Obama puts them exactly where the devil wants them to be. The Father of Lies chuckles with satisfaction. He gloats triumphantly at the fact that their hatred of his appearance in one form has maneuvered them into supporting his triumph in another.

I grieve deeply as I contemplate the fact that millions of Americans are letting themselves be caught in this diabolical snare. As I tried to point out in 2008, the lesser of evils is still evil. No matter how such an election turns out, people content to choose between Satan and Beelzebub have made clear their willingness to let things go to hell. Moreover, the nature of their choice is so clear to them that they practically boast of the passionate hatred that impels them to it. With this practical boast, they become the willing, proud accomplices of the very evil they profess to hate.

I'm morally certain this is why Christ admonished his disciples to make striving for God's perfection the standard for their actions, rather than their hatred of evil. He thought it better to fail reaching for this standard than succeed by abandoning one's life to the devil's dominion. He thought it better to fail in the world's eyes while commending one's spirit to God (as he does on the cross) than succeed by casting one's lot with God's adversary.

All this came to my mind this week as I read the excellent half-truths in David Limbaugh's column on Obama's intentional destruction of America. Some readers doubtless remember that I warned people of this destruction on the heels of Obama's putative inauguration. They are probably wondering why I call them "half-truths." The reason is simple. Then as now, I hold fast to the self-evident truths that are the foundation of America's constitutional republic. Starting in 2004 (when I accepted the invitation of the Illinois GOP to run against him for a seat in the U.S. Senate), the more I learned about Barack Obama the more clearly I saw that throughout his life and especially in his political career, he has in word and deed demonstrated his rejection of those truths. On account of that, I adamantly oppose him.

But I cannot ignore the fact that Obama's abandonment of the principles of the American Declaration of Independence is just an instance of an apostasy now characteristic of elitist elements presently in control of both of America's so-called major political parties, as well as important institutions in every other sector of America's life. In many articles over the past several years, I have shared the facts and reasoning that substantiate this conclusion. (See, for example, "Abandoning the Republic — a threat to Civil Peace" and the whole series of articles at my blog under the heading "Without Representation.") Recent events have confirmed it, from the GOP's rigged choice of stealth socialist Mitt Romney as their prospective nominee, to Chief Justice John Roberts' all too predictable hoisting of the crypto-socialist "Jolly Roger." (He abandoned reason, just principle, and the plain logic of constitutionally-limited government to pen the Supreme Court's specious claim that the U.S. government is endowed, in pirate fashion, with an inherently unlimited taxing power, unconstrained by constitutional provisions.)

In light of this pervasive elite abandonment of the vision of constitutional self-government essential to America's national identity, recognizing Obama's intentionally destructive work admits only half (and perhaps not the most fatal half) of the threat we face. On every issue of fundamental importance to the future of the republic, Mitt Romney did, as governor in Massachusetts, what, against strong and intensifying opposition, Obama is still only struggling to do. Logically, the only people who should support Romney are those who embrace Obama's goals, but resent Obama's failure to achieve them. They want to replace his clumsy, bluntly socialist incompetence with Romney's more engaging and sweetly deceptive method of attaining the same end. Moreover, they know from past experience that they can count on his GOP label to compel efforts from party-first GOP partisans to defend and explain away President Romney's pursuit of the elitist socialist agenda. Thus his election will help to thwart and defuse the strong opposition it would otherwise continue to arouse.

I know many people who adamantly oppose Obama because he is steering us toward an elitist, totalitarian "island paradise" that lies well within the shark-infested waters of hell. Yet they'll vote to replace him at the helm with someone whose only factual claim to prowess is a record that promises a smoother voyage, through calmer seas, toward the same destination. In what twisted realm of existential despair does this make sense?

As I think on it, I realize why America's founding generation refused the path of atheistic delusion that misled the first French republic to violence and ravenous Napoleonic tyranny. People who put their trust in God need never accept the devil's choice, fighting evil with evil. Because the kingdom of God is within them, a better choice is always near at hand. Many Americans pray and profess to believe that His kingdom is near. But in their sovereign duty as citizens, they now propose to abandon their profession. It is what has made self-government possible for them. It can do so again, even now, but only if they remember it in time. As for the choice between Obama and Romney, it's the devil's choice either way. Only evil can come of it.